Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and Kinross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s planned timescale is for publishing its response to the Union connectivity review: final report, published on 26 November 2021.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The UK Government is grateful to Lord Peter Hendy for his Union Connectivity Review. We are taking the time necessary to consider his recommendations, and have been working closely with the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Northern Ireland Executive and key stakeholders, to identify the solutions that work best for the people of the UK. We will publish the Government’s response as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and Kinross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to clear the driving test backlog and reduce test waiting times, particularly in rural areas.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) operates a 24-week booking window for car tests and there are test slots available within this window.
Driver testing services were significantly disrupted during the pandemic, which has led to a high demand for learners who are now wanting to take their driving test. The DVSA is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can and has a number of measures in place to do this. These include offering a national recovery allowance and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays and weekends), and resuming the number of driving tests per day to seven for each full-time examiner.
The DVSA is also recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, it is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
To reduce the number of driving tests that go to waste, the DVSA has introduced a text messaging service to remind candidates about their test and has also launched a ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign to improve learners’ understanding of what it means to be test ready and how they can assess their readiness.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and Kinross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in the context of the driving test backlog, if he will take steps to increase the number of driving test slots available, particularly in rural areas.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) operates a 24-week booking window for car tests and there are test slots available within this window.
Driver testing services were significantly disrupted during the pandemic, which has led to a high demand for learners who are now wanting to take their driving test. The DVSA is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can and has a number of measures in place to do this. These include offering a national recovery allowance and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays and weekends), and resuming the number of driving tests per day to seven for each full-time examiner.
The DVSA is also recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, it is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
To reduce the number of driving tests that go to waste, the DVSA has introduced a text messaging service to remind candidates about their test and has also launched a ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign to improve learners’ understanding of what it means to be test ready and how they can assess their readiness.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and Kinross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the DVLA is taking to make the processing of V5 forms (a) more efficient and (b) accessible online during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has a range of services available online which offer the quickest and easiest way to transact with the DVLA. The DVLA’s online services have worked well throughout the pandemic with more than 36 million online driver and vehicle transactions processed since March. Around 97.5 per cent of DVLA’s customer interactions are digital or automated allowing businesses and motorists to transact with DVLA at a time and place that suits them.
For vehicle keepers, the online services include notifying a change of keeper, telling the DVLA that a vehicle has been disposed of to a motor trader as well as removing and adding a personalised number plate from or to a vehicle.
The DVLA continues to add to the extensive range of digital services already available. In June, the DVLA launched a new service allowing vehicle keepers to change their address online. This service was developed and introduced at pace in response to the pandemic and has been very successful with more than 213,000 change of address transactions completed online by the end of August. Further digital service enhancements are underway.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and Kinross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) Air France, (b) KLM and (c) other airlines refund customers for flights cancelled as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department for Transport is in regular conversation with UK airlines and wider membership bodies. We are working closely with the sector, the regulator and consumer groups to help ensure airlines deliver on their commitments.
The Government recognises the challenges businesses are experiencing regarding refunds for cancelled holidays and flights. Airlines are working hard to answer the high call volumes and to process large volumes of refunds.
The Government appreciates the frustration consumers may be experiencing. We have been clear that where a consumer has asked for a refund, that refund must be paid.